Gauging method and apparatus for diesel injector nozzles

ABSTRACT

The invention permits the gauging or measurement of the protrusion of diesel injector nozzle past the fire deck of a combustion chamber without tearing down the engine. Instead, the measurement is made in a blind fashion. The nozzle is removed and a tool, in the shape of a simulated nozzle is inserted against the nozzle seat. It has a rotatable finger that feels and locates the fire deck, and this location is set into the tool and the finger is then rotated to an alignment position so that the tool can be removed. The tool can be calibrated to measure this dimension accurately. Preferably it is inserted into a simulated motor section wherein nozzle seat is relatively moveable with respect to a simulated fire deck and the feeler action is repeated to transfer this feeler setting to the simulated motor section which is then set to the same setting. The removed nozzle is inserted into the simulated motor section and the protrusion above the simulated fire deck is measured directly. If the protrusion is too great, shims are placed on the nozzle seat. If the protrusion is too little, the seat is reamed out.

United States Patent 91 Shaver Feb. 20, 1973 [54] GAUGING METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DIESEL INJECTOR NOZZLES [76] Inventor: Everett E. Shaver, 760-A Casiano Drive, Santa Barbara, Calif.

[22] Filed: Dec. 28, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 101,485

[52] [1.5. Cl ..33/18l R, 33/143 R, 33/169 R, 33/172 R [51] Int. Cl. ..G01b 3/38 [58] Field ofSearch ..33/18l AT, 180 AT, 143 R, 33/169 R, 33/174 R, 172 R Primary Examiner-William D. Martin, Jr. Attorney-Harry W. Brelsford [57] ABSTRACT The invention permits the gauging or measurement of the protrusion of diesel injector nozzle past the fire' deck of a combustion chamber without tearing down the engine. Instead, the measurement is made in a blind fashion. The nozzle is removed and a tool, in the shape of a simulated nozzle is inserted against the nozzle seat. It has a rotatable finger that feels and locates the fire deck, and this location is set into the tool and the finger is then rotated to an alignment position so that the tool can be removed. The tool can be calibrated to measure this dimension accurately. Preferably it is inserted into a simulated motor section wherein nozzle seat is relatively rnovcable with respect to a simulated fire deck and the feeler action is repeated to transfer this feeler setting to the simulated motor section which is then set to the same setting. The removed nozzle is inserted into the simulated motor section and the protrusion above the simulated fire deck is measured directly. if the protrusion is too great, shims are placed on the nozzle seat. 1f the protrusion is too little, the seat is reamed out.

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INVENTOR. EVERETT E. SHAVER ATTORNEY GAUGING METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DIESEL INJECTOR NOZZLES My invention relates to a gauging method and apparatus for determining the protrusion dimension of a diesel fuel injector nozzle into the combustion chamber of a diesel engine.

The adjustment of a nozzle to its combustion chamber is unusually sensitive and critical in diesel engines. This positioning determines not only the efficiency of combustion and power output of the engine, but also the amount of smoke emitted from the engine exhaust. With increasing control of smoke emissions from diesel trucks and other diesel vehicles, the operational problem for diesel vehicles becomes acute because of the monetary amount of the fines imposed. The pollution prevention enforcement also becomes easier if an efficient and reliable tool is available whereby smoking diesels can be quickly corrected in a shop without tearing down the engine.

The measurement of nozzle projection presents no problems when the engine is torn down and the head removed from the block. A measuring tool is placed against the fire deck and the protrusion is directly measured. The problem becomes difficult, however, if the head remains attached to the block. A blind or indirect measurement is then needed and the present method and apparatus solves this problem. From a practical standpoint the invention makes possible the checking and correction of diesel nozzle projection quickly with garage operations reduced to the simple removal and replacement of a nozzle. This is in contrast to the usual involved procedure of removing the head of the motor to get at the nozzles for direct measurement.

Injector nozzles are usually standard in size and made to very minute tolerances. The possibilities for errors in protrusion arise during repairs of the engine. Usually when the head of a diesel engine is removed, the fire deck is ground to restore the flatness of the head. The nozzles will now protrude excessively by the dimension of the metal ground off. This requires putting a shim on the nozzle seat to reduce the protrusion. If this is not properly done and calibrated subsequent motor trouble will develop. Also, even where a nozzle seat has been properly shimmed to a correct amount, too much torque may be applied to the holddown screws for the nozzle, causing it to deform the copper seat and thereby protrude too much. Also, a mechanic may wire brush the seat of the nozzle tube prior to reassembly and inadvertently remove several thousandths of metal. These and other repair difficulties give rise to nozzle'problems requiring the use of my invention.

It is therefore a general object of my invention to provide an improved method and an improved apparatus for the blind measurement of diesel nozzle protrusion.

Other objects, advantages and features of the invention will be apparent in the following specification of which the drawings are an integral part and in which:

FIG. 1 is an elevation view in full section of a simulated nozzle injector tube which has a finger on the end for sensing the location of the fire deck.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary view in elevation and full section of the lower part of FIG. 1 showing the finger in a transverse or operative position for sensing the location of the fire deck.

FIG. 3 is an elevation view in section of the head of a diesel engine showing the copper receiving tube for the injector nozzle and showing the tool of FIG. I inserted in that tube for sensing the location of the fire deck.

FIG. 4 is an elevation view in full section of a simulated engine section showing the tool of FIG. I inserted therein to obtain the proper relationship between the simulated nozzle seat and the simulated fire deck.

FIG. 5 is an elevation view in full section of the simulated engine section of FIG. 4 wherein an injector nozzle is inserted in the tool of FIG. 4 and its projection above the fire deck is directly measured.

Referring to FIG. 3 there is illustrated a head 10 of the diesel engine having an opening 11 therein representing the water jacket of the head 10. Inserted in a vertical passage through the head 10 is a tube 12 which forms a water tight joint with the head 10 and which has a frustro-conical lower section 13 which acts as the seat for the injector nozzle. The lower surface of the head 10 is a fire deck 14 forming part of the combustion chamber for a diesel engine and it is the dimension from the conical seat 13 to this fire deck 14 that is measured by the tools and the method of the invention.

Referring to FIGS. 1, 2, and 3, the simulated injector nozzle tool is indicated generally by the reference numeral 16. A seat body member 17 having a frustroconical surface 18 is centrally apertured and a tubular member 19 slides within this seat body 17. The lower end of the tube 17 is slotted at 21 and a transverse pin 22 supports a rotatable finger 23 which is preferably loosely rotatable on the pin 22. This finger 23 is rotatable to a transverse position shown in FIG. 2 when a plunger rod 24 moves downwardly so that a diagonal surface 26 thereof contacts a surface 27 on the finger 23. The plunger 24 preferably contacts the finger 23 with considerable force so that the finger 23 is held extremely rigidly in its transverse position shown in FIG. 2. The finger 23 has a contactpoint 28 formed on it for point contact of the fire deck 14, shown in FIG. 3.

Referring particularly to FIG. 1, the tube 19 is normally urged upwardly by a compression spring 29 resting on the seat body member 17 and engaging a flange 31 on the tube 19. An outer tube 32 is mechanically secured to the seat body 17 and supports a bushing 33 at its upper end in which is threaded a thumb screw 34. When the thumb screw 34 is tightened, the tube 19 is held rigidly with respect to the seat body 17 and is thereby set at any particular sliding position. Loosely sliding on the outside of the tube 32 is a frustro-conical guide member 36 which acts to center the tool in use. Mounted on the upper end of the tube 19 is a cap 37 which surrounds a compression spring 38 which rests on the top of the tube 19 and which engages a transverse pin 39 at the top of the plunger rod 24. The plunger 24 is thereby normally held in a retracted position as shown in FIG. 1. Threaded in the top of the cap 37 is a thumb screw 41 which may be manually screwed downwardly to force the rod 24 downwardly against the compression of the spring 38. It is this action of the thumb nut 41 that forces the rod 24 downwardly to contact the finger 23 shown in FIG. 2.

The operation of the tool of FIGS. 1, 2, and 3 is illustrated best in FIG. 3. The injector nozzle for the engine is removed from its tube 12 and the tool of FIG. I is inserted within this tube 12 by having the finger 23 aligned with the tube 19 as shown in FIG. 1. The thumb screw 41 at the top of the tool 16 is then operated to force the plunger rod 24 downwardly to rotate the finger 23 to the transverse position shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. When this is accomplished, the operator allows the spring 29 to move the tube 19 upwardly until the finger 23 contacts the fire deck of 14. The thumb screw 34 is then operated to fix this location of the tube 19 with respect to the conical seat member 17. This setting may be read off directly from the tool 16 at graduations 42 shown best in FIG. 3, or this setting may be transferred to a simulated engine section as will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. This transfer is effected by unscrewing thumb screw 41 until the finger 23 is aligned as in FIG. 1, and the tool 16 is then removed from the head 10.

Referring to FIG. 3, one of the most important parts of the tool 16 from a measurement standpoint is the body section 17 which is extremely accurately machined to duplicate the angle and size of the particular injector nozzle being serviced. The injector nozzles are normally machined to very exacting tolerances and the body member 17 of the tool is machined to the same exacting tolerances so as to duplicate the injector nozzle and its seating action on the tubular seat 13.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, there is illustrated a simulated motor section in the form of a tool 43 having a tubular body 44 on top of which is secured a cap 46 having a central aperture 47 which is coaxial with the tubular body 44. The cap 46 has a top surface 45 which acts as a simulated fire deck, and the cap 46 so readily removed and replaced by removing and replacing cap screws 50 which hold it to the tubular body 44. Slidingly mounted within the upper portion of the tubular body 44 is a cylinderical member 48 having a frustro-conical central aperture 49 which is coaxial also with the tubular body 44. This frustro-conical aperture 49 is precisely machined to duplicate the seat 13 of the nozzle tube 12 of FIG. 3. Compression springs 51 normally urge the simulated nozzle seat 48 downwardly but this seat can be held in any selected position by means of a thumb screw 52 threaded into the tubular body 44. Secured to the lower part of the body 44 is a sliding skirt 53 which may be held in any telescoping relationship by means of a thumb screw 54. The sliding skirt 53 acts only as a guide to help center the tools or nozzles within the simulated motor section 43.

Referring still to FIG. 4, the simulated nozzle tool 16 of FIGS. 1, 2, and 3, is inserted in the simulated motor section 43 by straightening the finger 23 shown in FIG. 1 and after the tool assumes the position shown in FIG. 4 the end thumb nut 41 of the tool 16 is operated to move the plunger rod 24 (FIG. 2) against the finger 23 so that it again assumes the transverse position that it had to locate or feel the fire deck position best shown in FIG. 3. The tool is so constructed as to exactly duplicate this same transverse position of the finger 23.

the skirt 53 to accurately center the tool so that there will be no false positioning of the simulated nozzle seat member of 48 because of canting of the tool 16 in the tool 43. When this exact position is achieved of the simulated nozzle of seat member 48, then the thumb screw 52 is operated to lock it tightly in this position. The thumb screw 41 at the end of the tool 16 is then operated to allow the finger 23 to assume an aligned position shown in FIG. 1 and the tool of 16 is extracted or removed from the tool 44.

The position of the simulated valve seat 49 and the simulated fire deck 45 are now exactly the same as the corresponding parts in FIG. 3: the nozzle seat 13 and the fire deck 14. The tool 43 is now in a position so that an exact measurement of protrusion above a fire deck can be obtained.

Referring to FIG. 5 there is illustrated a diesel injector nozzle 56 which has been inserted in the tool 43 and it is manually moved upwardly until a conical nozzle portion 57 seats against the simulated nozzle seat 49. A gauge 58 which has been zeroed by contact with the simulated fire deck 45, is now engaged by a projecting point 58 on the nozzle 56 and the exact amount of protrusion above the simulated fire deck 45 is now directly measured. This nozzle 56 is preferably the identical nozzle that has been removed from within the nozzle tube 12 of FIG. 3. i

If it is determined that the projection of the nozzle tip 58 above the simulated fire deck 45 is too great, then shims may be placed over the conical portion 57 of the nozzle of 56 and the device again tested for protrusion. In actual practice, frustro-conical dhimd are made available in different thicknesses. For example, thicknesses that will reduce the protrusion by 0.005, 0.010 and 0.020 of an inch. If the protrusion of the point 58 above the simulated fire deck 45 is too little, then the mechanic reams out'the copper tube 12 of FIG. 3 until the seat 13 has been reduced in placement a sufficient amount to allow for the proper protrusion.

METHOD From the foregoing description of the apparatus and the mode of its operation, it will be appreciated that the invention provides a method for the blind determination or gauging of the amount or dimension that the injector nozzle protrudes past the fire deck. Briefly this method includes the insertion of a blind feeler in the nozzle cavity, obtaining a setting for this feeler removing the feeler and transferring this setting to a simulated engine section, adjusting the simulated engine section to the same spacing as the genuine fire deck and nozzle seat and then inserting the true nozzle into this simulated engine section and measuring its protrusion directly.

More basically the method consists of measuring the distance from the nozzle seat to the fire deck of a motor and adjusting a simulated diesel motor section to the same dimensions and inserting the injector nozzle into the simulated motor section for a direct measurement. In this fashion the injector nozzle may be measured directly with the same degree of accuracy as though it were measured on the head of the engine after it is removed from the block of the engine. The present method, however, saves the cost and delay in tearing apart a diesel engine and makes it possible to do quick adjustments on nozzle penetrations with a high degree of accuracy.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the various manufacturers of diesel injector nozzles have different geometries for their nozzles. Accordingly, with reference to FIG. 1 it will be necessary to have a different nozzle body 17 for each type of manufacturer. For this purpose the nozzle body 17 is made readily removable from the tool 16 so that different geometries of nozzle body 17 may be substituted. Likewise with respect to FIGS. 4 and 5, the sliding cone member 48 must be replaced for each different type of nozzle and the guiding skirt 53 at the bottom must be changed for each type of nozzle. With such exchanges of parts the tooling becomes truly universal to handle a large number of different makes of diesel engines.

The actuation of the finer 23 may be accomplished by a rotating rod or by hydraulic pressure. Various other modifications in the apparatus will occur to those skilled in the art and the following claims include all such modifications and variations that fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. A tool for the blind measurement of the distance between the seat of a diesel injector nozzle and the fire deck comprising:

a. a circular seat body member fitting on the nozzle seat;

a finger support tube sliding within the seat body and having a projecting end;

c. a feeler finger rotatably mounted on the projecting end of the sliding tube and rotatable to a transverse position and to an aligned position and having a flat portion;

. a sliding rod within the sliding tube and having on one end a flat contact surface to engage the flat portion of said feeler finger to selectively hold it in a transverse position;

e. and means for setting the sliding position of the sliding tube with respect to the seat body, whereby when the feeler is in a transverse position it will sense the location of the fire deck at a particular sliding position of the sliding tube with respect to the seat body and this is thereupon set, and the finger is then returned to an aligned position by actuating the rod for removal of the tool from the nozzle seat.

2. The method of the blind determination of the dimension of protrusion past the fire deck into their combustion chambers of diesel injector nozzles mounted in seats in a motor section comprising:

a. removing an injector nozzle from its seat;

b. inserting a simulated nozzle tool into the seat and obtaining a setting for the distance from the seat to the fire deck of the chamber;

c. inserting the simulated nozzle into a simulated diesel motor section wherein a simulated nozzle seat and fire deck are relatively adjustable;

d. transferring this setting to the simulated motor section by setting the positions of the simulated nozzle seat and fire deck;

e. inserting the removed injector nozzle into the simulated motor section against its seat;

f. and measuring the protrusion of the diesel nozzle above the fire deck of the simulated motor section. 3. A tool for the measurement of the protrusion of a diesel injector nozzle past the fire wall of a diesel combustion chamber comprising:

a. a simulated fire deck having an aperture about an axis;

a simulated nozzle seat on one side of the deck and moveable along the axis with respect to the deck; c. means for setting the deck and seat at any selected spacing from each other;

and means on the other side of the deck for measuring the protrusion of a nozzle above said deck; when a diesel nozzle is seated on the simulated nozzle seat.

4. A method for the blind measurement of the distance a diesel nozzle projects past the fire deck comprising:

a. removing an injector nozzle from its seat;

b. measuring the distance from the seat to the fire deck;

c. adjusting a simulated diesel motor section to the same measurement between a simulated seat and simulated fire deck;

d. inserting the removed injector nozzle into the simulated motor section against its seat;

e. and measuring the protrusion of the diesel nozzle above the fire deck of the simulated motor section. 

1. A tool for the blind measurement of the distance between the seat of a diesel injector nozzle and the fire deck comprising: a. a circular seat body member fitting on the nozzle seat; b. a finger support tube sliding within the seat body and having a projecting end; c. a feeler finger rotatably mounted on the projecting end of the sliding tube and rotatable to a transverse position and to an aligned position and having a flat portion; d. a sliding rod within the sliding tube and having on one end a flat contact surface to engage the flat portion of said feeler finger to selectively hold it in a transverse position; e. and means for setting the sliding position of the sliding tube with respect to the seat body, whereby when the feeler is in a transverse position it will sense the location of the fire deck at a particular sliding position of the sliding tube with respect to the seat body and this is thereupon set, and the finger is then returned to an aligned position by actuating the rod for removal of the tool from the nozzle seat.
 1. A tool for the blind measurement of the distance between the seat of a diesel injector nozzle and the fire deck comprising: a. a circular seat body member fitting on the nozzle seat; b. a finger support tube sliding within the seat body and having a projecting end; c. a feeler finger rotatably mounted on the projecting end of the sliding tube and rotatable to a transverse position and to an aligned position and having a flat portion; d. a sliding rod within the sliding tube and having on one end a flat contact surface to engage the flat portion of said feeler finger to selectively hold it in a transverse position; e. and means for setting the sliding position of the sliding tube with respect to the seat body, whereby when the feeler is in a transverse position it will sense the location of the fire deck at a particular sliding position of the sliding tube with respect to the seat body and this is thereupon set, and the finger is then returned to an aligned position by actuating the rod for removal of the tool from the nozzle seat.
 2. The method of the blind determination of the dimension of protrusion past the fire deck into their combustion chambers of diesel injector nozzles mounted in seats in a motor section comprising: a. removing an injector nozzle from its seat; b. inserting a simulated nozzle tool into the seat and obtaining a setting for the distance from the seat to the fire deck of the chamber; c. inserting the simulated nozzle into a simulated diesel motor section wherein a simulated nozzle seat and fire deck are relatively adjustable; d. transferring this setting to the simulated motor section by setting the positions of the simulated nozzle seat and fire deck; e. inserting the removed injector nozzle into the simulated motor section against its seat; f. and measuring the protrusion of the diesel nozzle above the fire deck of the simulated motor section.
 3. A tool for the measurement of the protrusion of a diesel injector nozzle past the fire wall of a diesel combustion chamber comprising: a. a simulated fire deck having an aperture about an axis; b. a simulated nozzle seat on one side of the deck and moveable along the axis with respect to the deck; c. means for setting the deck and seat at any selected spacing from each other; d. and means on the other side of the deck for measuring the protrusion of a nozzle above said deck; when a diesel nozzle is seated on the simulated nozzle seat. 